'Attitude of gratitude' most important possession in life

By Robin Kingham

Published 10:39 am, Thursday, June 23, 2011

This is it — time to celebrate! I reached my fundraising commitment on June 16. I raised more than $5,600. I didn't reach my personal goal of $7,500, but when I started this I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This has been the most amazing journey. It has changed my life completely.

I'm writing this week's column on Monday, in anticipation of my trip. This is what I know: When you read this I will be sound asleep in my bed in my hotel in Hawaii. Or, I will be too nervous to sleep and I will be running the 13 miles in my mind over and over. I will have attended a meet and greet Friday night, worked-out with my teammates Saturday morning to stay loose for the race and attended a team meeting Saturday afternoon to pick up my race packet. I also will have attended the pasta party Saturday night to get the needed fuel for the race.

The race is scheduled to start 6 a.m. today. My teammates and I will have to be ready to go by 4:40 a.m. to catch the shuttle to the race start. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I'm excited to finally meet my teammates who I've been emailing and visiting via conference call over the past 16 weeks. I can't wait to share the details from this weekend with all of you who have been reading my column every week. I promise a complete recap next week.

But this week I need to take care of something else -- giving thanks. I always tell my daughters the most important trait they can possess is an attitude of gratitude. I am the real estate account executive at the Reporter-Telegram and I have the most amazing clients anyone could ask for. Thanks goes out to Pat Paxton of Coldwell Banker Covenant; Sandy Scott, Holly Cohen and Jon Short of Real Estate One; Pat Chancellor, Alvin Collins, Teri Vestal, DeLaura Gammage, Amanda Siruta, Romona Lopez, Thanda White and Jane Wolf of Legacy Real Estate; Lance Brock of Lance Brock Realty; Lisa Kelly of Kelly Real Estate; Patti Woolard of Keller-Williams; DeeDee Brown of Re/MAX 1st Choice; Steg Stegall of Ajani Hair Salon; Astrid Farley of The Ivy Cottage; and Gina Lann of World Ventures. You honor me with your support and I enjoy working with all of you.

I'd like send a very special thank you to Fran Billingsly. Fran, you are my fairy godmother. Because of your assistance and guidance I was able to add so much more to my weekly column. I took all of your advice to heart and it helped immensely. The fact you made a donation didn't hurt either! You reached out to your friends on my behalf; there are no words to adequately express my gratitude.

A huge thank you goes out to the readers, my family and my friends. I received emails and phone calls. You told me your stories and shared your pain with me. Some of you even felt so strongly you made donations. If not for your support and encouragement I would not have reached my goal in time.

Finally, I have to thank my amazing co-workers at the MRT. Megan, thank you for turning my request for one article into a weekly column, I didn't think I could do it, I am grateful for support and encouragement. Shalayna, my fundraising guru, thank you for all of your guidance and suggestions, the dance party was a success because of you. Everyone here at the newspaper is more than a co-worker, you are all my family. You bought candy bars every day, you bought tickets to the Determined to Dance party even though you knew you probably wouldn't attend. You asked me how training was going. You posted my fundraising link on your facebook pages and asked your friends to support my cause. To top it off, when you found out I only had $50 left to go, you got together and handed me $105 in cash to beat my goal! I don't even know how to begin to thank all of you. Your support and generosity is overwhelming. I am honored to work with all of you. Thank you.

Check back next Sunday for all the details from race weekend! I promise not to leave anything out.